As the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children drew to a close yesterday, the Grahamstown High Court handed a 52-year-old man three life sentences after he pleaded guilty to repeatedly raping his daughter, stepdaughter and niece over a period of 17 years. The man, who was a volunteer counsellor at Lifeline, among other occupations, has not been named to protect the identity of his victims.His daughter - now 24 - became his first victim at the age of five.Her mother accused her of lying when she complained of rape. The attacks only stopped when she was old enough to resist her father's advances. To escape him, she married at a young age.The girl was also sexually abused by her paternal grandfather.The man raped his stepdaughter from the age of six, and his niece from the age of eight.The Shukumisa sexual violence campaign has held a parallel "16 days of discontent" drive, rating several institutions on the services they provide to the victims of sexual offences.It gave the police three out of 10 for investigating sexual offences.The National Prosecuting Authority scored four out of 10.Lisa Vetten, of Shukumisa, said child protection was the service most in need of improvement."The challenge for children is that they are dependent on adults to report these crimes. They can't get to the police station if an adult doesn't believe them," she said.Children should be able to raise the alarm in other ways, such as approaching a school social worker, she said.Shaheda Omar, of the Teddy Bear Clinic for abused children, said children were still being let down by the police and prosecutors."After so many years we are unable to break the cycle. The places where children are supposed to be the most safe are where they are most at risk," she said.She added that more consistent punishment should be meted out for crimes against children...